1954.

Gazing upon Lady Luna’s arrow gleaming in the darkness, its promise of death pointed at his heart, Eddie cursed himself for not being more suspicious of her. Perhaps that was the unease he had felt around her, something his father’s feelings for his childhood sweetheart had kept him from seeing. Had there been any truth at all in her story of trailing L’Ombre Grande through Europe?

Then Sylvia shouted, “Get down!” and released her bow.

Eddie dropped without hesitation and witnessed the arrow’s flight to its true target — Senator Estes!

It buried itself in the arm he had held upraised, Japanese tanto dagger in hand, mere seconds before he could drive the blade into Eddie’s back.

Estes screamed in pain and dropped the dagger over the stairway railing to clatter on the warehouse floor.

After watching the senator attempt to publicly embarrass Eddie’s father with Eddie’s secret shame, a small part of him rejoiced at the justification to take a swing at Estes.

He put everything he had into that right hook, but still it surprised him to see the senator’s nose fly right off his face. Blow after blow tore more and more pieces of makeup prosthetics from his cheeks, until an uppercut sent Estes crashing onto the walkway landing, where his hair came loose, revealing itself to be a wig.

“That was a close one!” said Sylvia, now at Eddie’s side. “Are you all right?”

“I am.” It embarrassed him that he had been so quick to think she was secretly a villain. That would have made her reappearance in his father’s life easier to manage. “And that’s thanks to you. But I’m afraid the senator seems to be falling apart — or should we address you as Shadowmaster?”

How many childhood fantasies of his included just this very moment? Here he was, the criminal mastermind Eddie had feared as a boy, now fallen at his feet, his true face exposed.

And yet Eddie had never thought of Shadowmaster as so young, nor so handsome. There was a dignity in the angle of his adversary’s cheekbone and a sensuous fullness to his lips that caught Eddie’s breath.

Even as he gripped his bloodied arm, teeth gritted in pain, Shadowmaster spoke in silken, somber tones — without the thick accent Eddie had always imagined. “I almost had you, Crimson Wraith…”

“So it seems the rumors of Shadowmaster’s death had been greatly exaggerated,” said Sylvia.

“Foolish woman,” said Shadowmaster. “It was not I whom your friend, the mighty Crimson Wraith, defeated. That was my father, Kagesama Sato Takahiro, the Shadowmaster before me.

“I am Kagesama Sato Katsumi, his son. When he died at your hands, Crimson Wraith, my mother and I were imprisoned in an internment camp for citizens of Japanese descent. When news of my father’s death reached us, she took to her bed and never rose again.”

He gazed past Eddie and Sylvia, back through the mists of time to the ghosts of memory. “Day after day, I sat beside her, holding food to her lips, begging her to eat. And day after day, she refused, until she faded into nothing.”

He raised his eyes once more to Eddie’s, beholding the mask worn by the man he blamed for his family’s misery. “I took up my father’s mantle, fulfilling my destiny to rule the shadows as Kagesama after him. But my true revenge has already been enacted. For taking his life and breaking my mother’s heart, I have made you know what it means to be hated and feared. The Committee on Community Accountability has been my finest creation.”

“Where is the real Senator Estes?” asked Eddie.

“A few years ago,” said Shadowmaster, “the senator took a trip to Europe. My agents made certain he never returned. I have used his identity ever since.”

“What should we do with him, Crimson Wraith?” asked Sylvia. “This is your city, after all.”

Usually, decisions like this were his father’s to make. But William wasn’t there. Eddie wore the mask of the Crimson Wraith.

“Titan City doesn’t trust the Crimson Wraith right now. So rather than avoiding the authorities, I believe it’s time to reach out to them. And I know just who to reach.”

While Sylvia kept Shadowmaster guarded, Eddie stepped into the warehouse office, picked up the phone, and dialed the Titan City Police Department. “I’d like to speak to Officer Goodman.”